The tiny whitewashed room where she slept that night was the one in which she had slept when a toddling baby, and Hetty wondered at herself as she looked round it thankfully.  A patchwork quilt covered the bed, and a flower-pot in the one small window, and some coloured prints on the wall, were its only adornments.  But it was extremely clean and neat, and, in spite of the pain in her foot, Hetty felt more content as she laid her head on the coarse pillow than she had felt for a great many weeks past.

CHAPTER XII.

A cottage child again.

Some time passed before Hetty saw any of the family at the Hall again.  Mr. Enderby was much displeased at her escapade, and resolved she should be punished.  He thought the best way to punish her was to leave her in the care of Mrs. Kane.  The hard and lowly living she would have to endure there would, he thought, subdue her pride and teach her to be meek and grateful on her return to a more comfortable home.  By his desire Mrs. Enderby refrained from going to see the child.  Mrs. Kane was sent for to the Hall and directed to take every care of her charge; but on no account whatever to pamper her.

At first Hetty was startled to find how very ready they were at the Hall to let her completely drop out of their lives, and at times she repined, but on the whole she was happier, and every day seemed to arouse her more and more to a better sense of the duties that lay round her in life, While seated on her old settle she watched Mrs. Kane sweeping and washing the floor, polishing up the windows and bits of furniture, and making the humble home shine.  Hetty longed to be able to take broom and scrubbing-brush from her hands and help her with the troublesome work.  When she found that by learning to hold her needle she could help to darn and mend for her dear friend, she eagerly gave her mind to acquiring the necessary knowledge.  Books were scarce in John Kane’s house, but Hetty did not miss them.  At this time of her life all books, except stories, were hateful to her, and she thought she had read enough stories.  It became a perfect delight to her to see Mrs. Kane shake out an old flannel jacket and hold it up to the light and declare that Hetty had mended it as well as she could have done it herself.  “And that will save my eyes to-night,” she would say, to Hetty’s intense pleasure, who, now for the first time in her young life, tasted the joy of being useful to others.

When her foot was sufficiently better to allow her to limp about, John Kane made her a crutch, and Hetty felt more gladness at receiving this present than Mrs. Rushton’s expensive gifts had ever given her.  After this she used to hop about the cottage, dusting and polishing, and doing many little “turns” which were a great help to Mrs. Kane.  She soon knew how to cook the dinner and make the tea, and when Mrs. Kane was busy or had to go out, it was Hetty’s delight to have everything ready for her return.  To save her black frock from being spoiled by work she had learned to make herself a large gingham blouse, in which she felt free to do anything she pleased without harming her clothes.